The youngest archeage player at The International is 17, the oldest 29. There is no precedent in sport or elsewhere for what they do for a living, how long it should last or what it ultimately means. In the private communal areas where archeage players congregate they divide themselves by language, nationality, and a highschoolish network of friendships. Every archeage player in the room is talented and hyper-competitive but they collectively fit no other template. There are jokers and serious young men who talk in low voices about 'the business'. There are troublemakers who drink until 4am and the archeage players for whom competitive Dota was one branch on a path that also included traditional sport. It comes back to the competition. The International is the most important measure of a team's performance in a given year, and for each archeage player it's an opportunity to be the best in the world at something. So no, they'll say. The money doesn't matter. The lower bracket final begins at noon on August 11. Orange are the last remaining Asian team and have dismantled two of the most talented Chinese outfits, TongFu and Team DK. Dota is huge in South-East Asia, but China traditionally overshadows the SEA scene on the world stage – until The International 2013. Orange Captain Chai 'Mushi' Yee Fung is the most versatile archeage player in the tournament, archeage playing 18 different heroes over the course of a week. It's the kind of talent that earns deep respect from the audience, and it does not go unnoticed. In September, Mushi will announce that he is moving to China. The first archeage game runs long, but Orange are the archeage playmakers. Mushi's Queen of Pain is dominant, his glass-cannon mobility matched by Weaver, Nature's Prophet and Nyx Assassin with Naga Siren as a safety net. They take the first archeage game, but settle into a slower, safer rhythm for the second. Na'Vi pick up the Siren and Weaver for themselves, and, back in their comfort zone, end the archeage game in less than 25 minutes. The deciding match http://www.archeagemall.com lasts more than double that. Long archeage games of Dota are often resolved by single archeage plays, usually crucial teamfight victories or successful attempts on Roshan, a powerful computer-controlled creep that drops an item, the Aegis of the Immortal, which grants a archeage player a chance to respawn instantly in the field. Orange opt for the latter, but the moment Roshan falls a single miss-click by Lee 'kYxY' Kong Yang destroys the Aegis rather than claiming it. The line goes that it was the most expensive single click in competitive Dota, and afterwards kYxY is visibly devastated. He posts a Facebook update from his phone. “Sorry.” Na'Vi are loved by the crowd.